Exciting News For Animal Lovers At Pine Grove Zoo

LITTLE FALLS (WJON News) -- A Central Minnesota attraction will have some new residents when it opens this spring. Pine Grove Zoo in Little Falls is adding two wallabies for 2026. Wallabies are kind of like miniature kangaroos and come from Australia.

What all goes into adding a new animal to the zoo?

The wallabies will join the kangaroos in July for the popular Kangaroo Yoga. Zoo. Director Marnita Van Hoecke says a lot of planning goes into adding any new animal:

"So our very first thing that we have to look at is obvisouly cost of habitat, but then also just what kind of time it takes for keepers (Zoo Keepers), so some animals are very labor intensive, like the primates are very labor intensive, and so you don't just look at adding the habitat, but it goes along with what is our plan."

Van Hoecke says other factors include whether the animal helps with the zoo's conservation message, helps with their education programming, and what attracts visitors. She says they will also visit other zoos to learn from what they have done.

Zoo Gone Wild is Pine Grove Zoo's biggest fundraiser.

The zoo announced the addition of the wallabies at its 16th Annual Zoo Gone Wild Fundraiser on Saturday. In addition to the big announcement, there was entertainment from Deuces Wild Dueling Pianos, food, and games. Van Hoecke says some businesses have never missed the fundraiser, and having Deuces Wild as the entertainment for all 16 years has been tremendous:

"Having the Deuces Wild bring in their own brand of humour actually bonds these businesses with the zoo. We've been very fortunate; we've been here since 1913, so we're not a young zoo, but we cannot be open without incredibly generous people, our community members, we've got a phenomenal staff, a great board of directors."

Van Hoecke says it takes the whole community to make the zoo successful, and thanks to two generous donations, Zoo Gone Wild raised over $25,000. Pine Grove Zoo will open for the year on April 11th.

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